Crouchie's Lawyer

Dean Hammond, great servant to us but fuck me, if he says Sowfammton one more time, Imma stick a brick through my TV

What is Che gets injured? Do you want to rely upon Mara who hasn't shown that he is able to do the job? What happens if Che pushes for a move in January? Do we want to be scrambling around in the January market which has served us so well in the past (Carillo / Tall Paul)? What happens if Che's form takes a dip? He hasn't been consistently clinical with us the whole time he has been here. He has started this season well but if it is true he really wanted to leave and was perhaps playing his socks off to get his move, he could go off the boil if he is still with us tomorrow. Stewart is an absolute must signing in my opinion. Gives us another option and could end up being better than Che which will boost our chances of promotion this season. With Ballard out on loan, having just Che, Tall Paul (unless he goes) and Mara as the main options upfront will not get us promoted unless Che is on fire the whole season. Fr me, Adams just isn't that main striker we can rely on. I'd rather see him played as one of the wide 3 upfront

Haha this is epic! I actually just checked his page and it is still up there 😂

Forgot you can edit wiki! Why didn't we collectively think of this at the start of summer and edit Mara and Tall Paul's Wiki to have them scoring a tonne of goals for us last year? Perhaps tricked a few other teams into thinking they were half decent.

Nah, they’re off. Tella and Che have both been in previous game squad this season. My take on it is that moves are imminent and they don’t want to risk injury by their involvement

Given we signed Che from Birmingham, it may not be too far fetched he may be holding out for a move to Wolves to move back up to the midlands? I think the most catastrophic scenario is if we are holding out to sell Che before we replace him and we get a bigger offer on deadline day. This will leave us with very little, if any chance of getting a replacement lined up in time for the season (or at least until January but we all know what January signings are like)! Arma has shown promise so far this season but I don't see him as the main up top guy. He seems to play better out on the side, utilising his pace more. Mara hasn't shown any sign of the potential we signed him for and after his performance against Gillingham, I don't want to see him used as anything more than a back up for the time being. I'd go so far as to say I would ship him out on loan or try and sell him and have Ballard as the back up. Onouachu hasn't really been given much of a chance but the chances he has been given show exactly why this is. Slow and poor control on the ball just does not fit out system. Really shows the gulf in class between the English leagues and Belgium leagues. Hopefully we can come to some kind of arrangement with Genk to send him back but what a piss poor knee jerk signing that was. Ballard, as alluded to above, I would like to see in and around the squad but we do not know if he is capable of stepping up from the younger teams into the big boy team and cutting the mustard at this level. Squad player yes, but unless he has some kind of Harry Kane Tottenham breakthrough season when given a chance and smashes them in for fun then I see this season as being one where he gets used to being in the squad and having the odd cameo here and there. In my opinion, we need another striker, regardless of what happens with Che, arguably two if Che does go. If we sign one now and Che subsequently leaves and we are unable to bring in another one at that point, at least we have the one to replace Che already through the door but we simply cannot gamble on not having the goals we need from a main striker this season. If we haven't enquired about Piroe then the board are putting their head on the chopping block if they are trying to be smart and sign ANother who may be just as good, may be better or judging by some of our gambles over the last few years, could be dramatically worse. If we have approach Piroe and been told to do one over our handling of the RM situation (or an expensive 'Saints' tax added on top of the £12m) then fair enough. If the player has stated he does not wish to join us then fair enough but I hope it is not us resting on our laurels. To me, the risk of us being left with a choice of Arma, Mara, Onouachu and Ballard going into the first half of the season as we have sold Che at the last minute and can't find a replacement is a hell of a lot more problematic than the risk of having to cover one more player's wages for 12 more months should we end up with both Che and Piroe. SR can't try and play smart all the time, sometimes they have to play it safe. Piroe is the safe option here.

Please can we keep the history chat away from this thread? If you nerds want to give each other a historic reach around then please do it in DM. I come here to read about transfers. If I wanted to go over shit I learnt, and subsequently forgot about at school, I’d pick up a history book

Damn, there was me thinking “who is this Atlanta Primus we have signed and why have I not heard anything about him” only to find out it’s a girl, for the Saints women’s team! Got my hopes up then!

https://twitter.com/FutSheriff/status/1691933746826457538?s=20

Yeah not good at all if this is the case. He has been one of the stand out performers of preseason and the games we have played so far. Really fits RM's system perfectly. Only saving grace is that this likely puts an end to any rumours he may be off but he will be missed if he is out for months. Hopefully this will force Sports Republic's hand to bring in Grimes now too so we have decent cover.

Tactically Matt on X is reporting Smallbone's injury is more serious than initially expected and he is likely to be out for months rather than weeks. With Lavia and JWP gone, I think we should be looking to bring in Grimes as well as Downes now. I know we have Charles who can play in that position but if we only have Downes and Charles, I don't think we will have enough quality cover.

Bit gutted about the JWP news. Realist in me knew he would want to move on and return to the Premier League but the fantasist in me was hoping he would be a true one club legend and see it out with a sense of wanting to get us back to the Premier League, like a sense of responsibility but I guess money talks in football. Whilst he may not be the outright leader we need, his engine, movement and passing skills fit this new system RM is implementing and, like with his run again SW at the weekend to set up Che, he has the ability to be dangerous in this division. What matters now is how we spend this money. We cannot afford to go for another gamble on youth. We need a tried and tested replacement who has shown they are capable of doing the job in this division. I am praying we get one, or two new midfielders in, a goal scorer, a big physical defender who can pass and a goal keeper before the window closes plus any others to replace anyone else who leaves (and needs replacing). Ideally offloading Lyanco, Bree, Aribo, Mara and McCarthy too would be the cherry on the cake. Yes we have a large squad but I would rather us sign the players we need to get us back into the Prem and have a larger squad, wasting a bit extra on wages for the players we don't want than wait to see if we can sell any of the unsellables before replacing them with what we need. Last night showed that there are a lot of players which aren't fit to wear the shirt. Stick them in the Under 21's for the season and forget about them. If we sell them, great, if we can't then we can deal with that at the end of the season when we know better where we stand. We need a quality first 11 plus subs to mount a serious push for this season. Hoping SR can see this.

Goal disallowed for Gillingham apparently for a push. Another set piece with a header though. We are going to be torn a new one from corners and set pieces this season. The new coach has his work cut out.

First game of the season non winning hoodoo broken. Away from home generally tougher than home games. Taking on a team who got promoted last season who were carrying a generally winning mentality versus us who got relegated with a losing mentality. Playing a first competitive match under a whole new style of play. Showing resilience in coming back from a set back (who else thought “here we go again, same old Saints” when Wednesday scored their equaliser?!) Completely dominated the game playing some excellent football. Top of the league! 😉 A lot of positives to take from the match last night. Not the finished product by some way yet. Still learning and adapting to the new system and invariably some of the components of the team will be moving on but hopefully the recruitment team will bring in players who can slot straight into this team. I’m excited for this season to come and keen to see how we fair after the first 5-6 games. COYS

Tino apparently not in the squad tomorrow night...

And there we go. For all that tidy possession we get hit with a quick attack. I appreciate this team may be a bit more tidy than some teams in the champ but with no ruthless attack we can’t rely on keeping clean sheets

Anyone else get booted out from the feed midways through the game with the message "you need to sign in to watch the game"? Happened to me twice during the Bournemouth game

Is that a *cough cough* slight injury where they don't want to risk a deal on the table which may be progressing in the next few days or a genuine slight injury? Guess there is no way of actually knowing.

https://twitter.com/TacticallyMatt/status/1683798833757659137?s=20 Says JWP wont be involved against Bournemouth tonight. Doesn't say whether it is an injury or anything else...

Done! Good luck

For me, the main striker position (assuming we are playing with one central forward/striker with two supporting wide forwards which seems to be the way a lot of teams play) should be priority this close season, as it has the past 2 windows. Yes, Che and Arma have proven pedigree at this level but they haven't played at this level for a few years and my concern is that our system just does not suit them as proven in the seasons they have been here and not been prolific. Someone who has played in the system Martin wants to adopt and proven to be fairly prolific in doing so should be our aim. If Che isn't going to sign a new contract then I would rather get circa £15m in from him now than pin any hopes on him doing the business this year and losing him for free next year. Mara is still young and an unproven entity. I wouldn't get rid of him but do not want to rely upon him as the first choice this season. Arma I see as being more effective as a wide forward. He is a quick player but he just didn't show enough last season to make me think our system suits him too well and again wouldn't feel confident if he was our first choice striker this season. I wouldn't lose any sleep if we decided to sell him but can't see too many wanting him, especially for the amount we would want for him and the wages he is on. That leaves Tall Paul and Ballard. Ballard I see in the same light as Mara, young with potential but we shouldn't be relying upon him to be the main main. Tall Paul, for all the excitement I had about his previous goal record, just doesn't look like a fit for us. It definitely highlights the gulf in class between Belgium football and English football. I wouldn't be upset if he wanted to leave and we recouped £10m or so from him. However, he didn't feature as much as I would have thought he would have done (mainly because he didn't show a lot when given the chance) given he was meant to be our saviour striker we had been screaming out for, for the best part of 18 months when he signed in January so whether he deserves another crack at it in the Championship will be determined by his desire to stay and whether he has impressed upon Martin enough in the close season plus whether he will actually fit into our system. We don't play with wingers as such, certainly not people who cross the ball in for a tall stricker to use their bonce which I feel would really be his strength given his height. I think for the wide forwards we have those already sorted so long as none of the following leave: Tella, Sulemana, Edozie and Amo-Ameyaw I think will all do well at this level. I have been particularly impressed with the glimpses I have seen of Amo-Ameyaw in the couple of friendlies we have played so far. He seems like quite a threat and wants to (and has done) take players on. He is quick and skill full and given a run in the team could do quite well. His turn to leave Cody Gakpo for dust in the last game of the season against Liverpool was filthy. From what we saw of Edozie early season, he looked to want to take players on too and shows good potential. I know he didn't deliver the finished article last season but I personally was not expecting that from him as a kid coming into the Premier League in his first season. I think a year down the the Championship will do him good. For me, as it stands, any combination of Tella, Sulemana, Edozie and Amo-Ameyaw for those two wide forward slots is an exciting prospect as there is so much pace there which will do teams damage. We just need that cut throat fox in the box striker who can link up with these players well and stick the ball away when given the chance.

I'd rather we play my Gran than Aribo. Aside from the pre-season friendlies he played in and perhaps the first 1-2 games of the season he has done nothing to convince me of his ability as a professional footballer. Lazy player who can't pass, tackle or shoot on target.

The fact remains, neither Jones or Selles should habe been taken on. Jones may have got a few more points than Selles, or not. It doesn't matter. That prick Rasmus gambled our Prem league status by not going for a solid choice. The fans could see the appointment of Jones was a mistake as soon as it was announced. On the whole, most were willing to give him a chance as he had the winter break to work with 99% of the squad and it was thought that he would be able to imprint his style of play on the team in what was tantamount to a pre-season but he let the team go on a holiday for a number of weeks (apparently) and it was abundantly clear his style of play was hoof ball when we returned from the winter break. Those who weren't excited but willing to give him a chance, myself included, quickly worked out this was going to be a shit show. Appointing the player's friend, the nice guy who everyone ay the club loves was also a wrong move. They needed a nasty bastard to come in and scream at the bunch of lazy chunts we have in our squad, throw some tea cups at them and make them scared of being relegated to the youth team if they don't put a shift in every game but Rasmus went with everyone's friend so the players knew it was "continue as normal" and the mediocrity we had endured from the players for the past year was allowed to continue. SR need to fuck off Rasmus for the mistakes his arrogance has cost us this season.

1, 3 and 7 for me. I can't differentiate the shiteness of all three of them. Stealing a living. Recruitment and our overlords take a fair share of the blame for this season though

Dying is a bit harsh but they should fuck off out of the club for sure. Out of everyone at the club, staff and players (excluding youth players and the women's players), I only hope we hold on to Lavia, Sulemana, Alcaraz, Livramento and KWP. I could not give two shits if the rest all left and especially hope Semmens and that prick Rasmus fuck off taking Moi, Aribo, AMN and A Armstrong with them the minute this season finishes.